Better Days
by NintendoGal55
Summary: Charlie Swan laments about the loss of the better days when it comes to his vampirized daughter. Those better days now exist only his own memories.


**I was inspired by other stories of this caliber. Poor Charlie. :( **

**LONG LIVE TEAM CHARLIE'S MUSTACHE! Thank you, Billy Burke, for giving Charlie an awesome 'stache. We will love you forever. :D**

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><p>Charlie Swan felt his heart drop to the floor whenever he looked at Bella. His only daughter, his little girl. She was...one of <em>them<em>. According to Jacob, a vampire. It killed him inside to see her like this. Ever since she moved to Forks to live with him, she had been so different. Granted, she had been a teenage girl for a while and they didn't see each other often, but in the past, she did make something of an effort to have fun while she was here.

But it wasn't long before it was clear that she hated it here. Hating it here was one thing, she obviously wasn't a small-town kind of girl surrounded by nature. She was a city girl, and loved the sunshine. That was fine, he could understand she preferred one kind of lifestyle over another.

Even in that, he tried hard to make her feel better here. Making her room bright as possible was his first attempt. Hanging some posters and pictures of sunny countries, landscapes and cities, stenciling a bright yellow sunrise on the plains of Africa on her wall. This had been when she was a child, around nine years old. For the first few years, she loved it. She praised him for his work on it, added some of her own touches by painting some palm trees (messily, but still sweet) and sandy beaches along free areas of the wall, beach balls, sand castle toys, the works, with him helping her, It had been a very fun project for the two of them to do. He would never forget her bright, smiling face as she looked up at him, in her little paint smock splattered with paint. She had enjoyed it so much, she talked Renee into letting her paint the walls in her room back in Phoenix.

"Well, you sure helped bring out her creative artist side!" Renee had said to him over the phone.

Charlie had felt really good about it all back then. He'd given her something nice to remember Phoenix, and even let her dabble in doing some kind of artwork, that she really came to enjoy. In fact, for a few years she took up painting. She started with watercolors, then moved to acrylics and oils. All she ever asked for come her birthday or Christmas, were paints, paper and canvases. She even eventually took to drawing sketches. When she was thirteen, she sketched a drawing of him. It was a little sloppy, her first attempt at realism, but it had so much heart and effort, he loved it so much. He had on a frame in his bedroom on the wall. It even had a sweet message that read, _**To the best dad in the whole world. I love you! ~Bells**_

Much to his dismay, it all soon came to an end. She wanted to paint over the walls and make them less childish. Charlie had taken pictures of them to savour forever, before complying with her wishes.

It was such a shame. Bella was very creative and had a very nice eye for beauty, which helped in her dabbles of art. Now she claims she wasn't good at it and didn't even think she could make a living from it. No, she was born to be a vampire, apparently. A vampire.

This wasn't Bella. It was as if someone had taken a photo of her, applied heavy makeup, did up her hair, added lighting and angles, and photoshoped her entire image. The sweet, wholesome brown eyes she once had were gone. Only replaced with these _demon_red eyes. It almost scared him to look into them, but he couldn't quake under that. He was the Chief of Police.

"Things going well with Sue, Dad?" Bella asked plainly, as if she didn't even care.

Charlie sighed, and nodded. "Yes. Everything's just fine with us. She's out getting groceries."

Edward Cullen looked at him then with a smug smirk as he brought his arm around Bella's shoulders. God knows he must've been thinking about how he had taken Bella away from him completely. It was no wonder, that damned so-called "man" successfully had Bella cut everyone from her life, except for him. Charlie wouldn't even be surprised if he never let her draw anything but him. Did she still draw? Could she even draw?

Jacob had said that vampires had their talents heightened, so it was likely if she tried, she would be even better.

But that just hurt Charlie inside. That would feel nothing like when she had done them before. It would be as if she had a huge dose of talent juice inserted into her veins, as opposed to actual effort within the talent she had. She wouldn't have even worked to get that better. It was handed to her on a silver platter.

"Dad, why don't you shave your mustache? You've had that thing since I was...I don't how old." Bella made a face.

Charlie almost wanted to remind her that it was HER idea that he keep the mustache. He remembered it vividly. It was a new morning during one summer, and he was in the bathroom about to shave his mustache. But Bella had seen him about to do it, and said,

"Daddy, don't shave it!" She had said, looking a little sad.

"Why not, Bells?" He had asked, curious.

"I like it. You look cool with it, daddy." She had replied with a smile. "Please don't shave it?"

And Charlie had just smiled, patted her head and promised he wouldn't. Ever since then, he kept it for her, and also because he never really thought about shaving it. And his partners on the force, his friends all thought it was cool, so there was really no reason to shave it.

He could see the look of disapproval from Edward, but he ignored it. "I like it just fine, so does Sue and almost everyone I know." Charlie shrugged a bit.

Bella grimaced, but said nothing further. "Whatever. We would've brought Renesmee, but Rosalie took her to Seattle for the day."

Charlie frowned. "But she's a few months old."

"I know." Bella said smugly.

Edward smirked smugly as well.

Charlie almost wanted to ask why the hell they were always leaving the baby with someone else. And even why they spoiled Renesmee so much. It was sickening. But when Edward glared at him again, and instead he inwardly rolled his eyes.

"Well, we're leaving. My wife and I have things to do." Edward said.

Charlie certainly noticed that Edward always referred to Bella as "my wife" in his presence. Despite that Bella had been _his_ daughter longer than Edward even _knew_her.

"Yes, let's go." Bella said airily, standing up with such fluid grace. "We'll bring Renesmee by sometime."

_Keep that demon spawn AWAY from me._ Charlie thought, and caught Edward glaring at him again. "We'll see, then. Have a good day, you two."

Without another word, Bella went out the door, as if excited to do so. Edward stayed behind, and smirked once more. And then he went out the door as well, closing it gently behind him.

Charlie glared at the door before heading back to the living room, sitting down on the couch and holding his face in his hands. Yes. Edward had won. Whether he liked it or not.

What had happened to Bella? Why did she let this happen to her? Where were her hopes, dreams, happiness and lust for life? What had happened to the ambitious young lady who said she wanted to be a painter one day? What had happened to the young girl who he took for ice cream with, sometimes accompanied by Jacob Black after they made mud pies? What happened to the laughing, smiling girl whenever he, Billy, Jacob and her all sat down to a movie with popcorn? Or that time he had taken her to a theme park in British-Columbia?

They really were better days.

Road trips, games, movies, everything they did together were nothing but memories. Sad, but wonderful memories.

Now there was just this. An empty shell of who his daughter once was, a monster, who held nothing but contempt and forced civility with him. What had he done to deserve this? He wasn't a perfect father, but damn it, he did his best to be a good father to her. To show how much he loved her. But ever since she moved to Forks, and met that damned Cullen, she was gone. Just gone.

He had relayed this to Renee before, and Renee had said that Bella was certainly different when she and Edward had gone to visit her in Florida. She had given Bella a beautiful patchwork of all the T-shirt memorabilia they had from all the years they'd been to different events, concerts, places, you name it. Where was that thing? Charlie recalled her having it when she came home, but he hadn't seen it since then.

Probably stashed away where she wouldn't find it. By Edward. Can't have her with old memories.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise him. Charlie found old photo albums and other mementos stashed away in a box in her closet. After she moved out and in with the Cullens. She didn't even take them with her. He had almost wanted to cry. She even left behind one photo of the two of them after she had caught a big fish. Back when she _liked_ fishing with him. On the back it said, _**My daddy and I, and my first big fish!**_How adorable it had been.

But those better days were gone. Forever. It pained him so much.

And Edward Cullen was just loving every second of it. He had won. He had made sure Bella severed all ties with her past.

After a little while, Sue came home, which snapped him out of his reverie. She greeted him, and requested his help in unloading the groceries. Charlie obliged and went to the kitchen to help her.

"So, you saw Bella and Edward today? You said they were coming by?" Sue queried.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah. They left a few minutes ago."

Sue frowned a bit, shaking her head. "I can't believe Bella anymore. I really can't."

"You and me both." Charlie muttered.

"Well..." Sue bit her lip, and then changed the topic. "Actually, on my way out from the store, I had a call from Leah. She said she wanted to come and visit you and I for a little while, and see Embry and Emmett Cullen. She's coming tomorrow."

Charlie gave a small smile. He always did prefer Leah's company over Bella. After all, she would one day be his stepdaughter. No reason he couldn't connect with her more. "Sure. That'd be great."


End file.
